Pages

When Rainy Season Arrives, We Head to the Beach!

How to Beat the Heat at the Beach

As you have probably surmised, we are not mega-fans of tropical heat when it hits the 90s. That's why we chose to build our home in Costa Rica at 4,000 ft. elevation where temps range between the mid-60s to mid-70s most of the year. When we feel the need to "visit the Tropics", it's only an hour's drive to some of our favorite beaches.

Trash collection run on a favorite Costa Rica beach

One in particular, which we discovered recently, was the subject of our visit last weekend. It's close, small, uncrowded and has a classic tropical island look with leaning palms and reaching almond trees with plenty of sand framed by broken rocks. The nearby restaurant is high, wide and open. It's tourist prices there, but the food is not the usual gallo pinto based plate and it comes with a trio of small (non-begging) dogs that have the run of the place. One of them escorted us on the beach, happily showing us the way.

Plastic Clean-Up

We prefer to hit the beach no later than 8 AM to beat the heat, but during rainy season it's common for the temperature to stay in the 80s all day with the sun behind thick cloud cover. Of course, if you feel too warm, the water is right there a few steps away.

Three-quarters of this pile Tamara picked up

We noticed this trip that there must have been a recent storm as the beach had been scoured and there was more plastic debris than usual. While I lounged and played with the dog escort, Tamara picked up three bags or more of the larger pieces of plastic plus a small plastic hog and a plastic tree for it to nap under. We'll probably give that to one of the Nica kids working in the neighbor's coffee plantation now.

Tropical Seed Collecting

Tamara also searches the beaches for shells, stones and seeds that she can use in her jewelry making. As she started bringing back handfuls of found items, I set the seeds to one side. After she brought one particularly large seed/fruit, I went in search of all the different seeds I could find from one end of the beach to the other. The result is the artistically arranged collection below.

All the different seeds we found on our Costa Rica beach. How many can you identify?

A Secret Beach Pool

We discovered something new about this beach on this day too. When we'd arrived, the place was deserted and the tide was as high as we'd ever seen it. It's a very flat beach, so as the tide ebbed, it ran out quickly. Within a couple of hours it was about 50 meters from where it had started and we could even walk around one rocky end to connect with a limitless beach that went on for as far as we could seed.

Hidden, sheltered pool between the rocks for soaking

Several Tico families had arrived by then as it was Independence Day weekend. Just before we got around the rocky outcropping, we saw several of them soaking in a deep pool between the rocks. We had never suspected this was there, but we'll definitely try it out the next time the tide is low.Just about any day in the year in Costa Rica is fine at the beach on either coast, but there's something special about cloudy or even rainy days there. It's hard to beat the sound of surf, sand between the toes and lots of warm tropical water to take your mind away from daily problems. Just let the natural beauty soak in and recharge your soul.